Epi-Olmec culture

The
Epi-Olmec culture
was a cultural area
in the central region of the present-day Mexican state
of Veracruz, concentrated in the
Papaloapan River
basin, a culture that existed during the Late Formative period, from roughly 300 BCE to roughly 250 CE.[1]
Epi-Olmec was a successor culture to the Olmec, hence the prefix "epi-" or "post-". Although Epi-Olmec did not attain the far-reaching achievements of that earlier culture, it did realize, with its sophisticated
calendrics
and writing system, a level of cultural complexity unknown to the Olmecs.[2]

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Left side image of La Mojarra Stela 1 showing a person identified as "Harvester Mountain Lord"

The rise of the Epi-Olmec culture on the western edge of the
Olmec heartland
coincides with the depopulation of the eastern half of the Olmec heartland and the decline of the Olmec culture in general. The Epi-Olmec culture represented a gradual transformation of, rather than a sharp break with, the Olmec culture. Many Olmec motifs, for example, were employed by its successor culture.
Tres Zapotes, one of the largest Olmec sites, continued as a regional center under the Epi-Olmec culture. And daily life for the non-elites continued much the same: subsistence farming with opportunistic hunting and fishing,
wattle-and-daub
houses, thatched roofs, and bell-shaped storage pits.[3]

On the other hand, the
Late Formative period
saw a widespread decline in trade and other interregional interaction throughout Mesoamerica,[4]
along with a marked decline in the use of exotic prestige items, such as greenstone
beads.[5]
It has been proposed these exotic trade goods were replaced as prestige items by locally-created luxury goods, such cotton cloth and towering headdresses.[6]
The decline in interregional interaction and trade was not uniform however: in particular, interaction with cultures across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
increased, and an increase in the import of obsidian has also been detected.[7]

In contrast to earlier Olmec art, Epi-Olmec art displays a general loss of detail and quality. Ceramic figurines were less realistically detailed,[8]
and the basalt monuments and stelae
at Tres Zapotes lacked the artisanship, refinement, and detail of the earlier San Lorenzo and La Venta work.[9]

Based on the decentralized placement of mounds groups and monumental sculpture at Tres Zapotes, the Epi-Olmec hierarchy is assumed to have been less centralized than its Olmec predecessor, perhaps featuring a factionalized ruling assembly rather than a single ruler.[10]

While the depiction of what appear to be historical events can be seen in La Venta Stela 3 ("Uncle Sam") and Monument 13 ("The Ambassador"), Olmec sculpture was more pre-occupied with the portraits of rulers, as is shown for example in the 17
colossal heads. In contrast, Epi-Olmec monuments show a dramatic increasing concern with historicity, culminating in the eventual appearance of dated transcriptions.[11]

Whereas contemporaneous
Izapan
monuments, some 330 miles (500 km) to the southeast, display mythic and religious subjects, Epi-Olmec monuments glorified rulers. La Mojarra Stela 1, for example, shows a ruler in an elaborate outfit and headdress. Justeson and Kaufman's translation of the accompanying Isthmian script gives the figure's name as Harvester Mountain Lord and the script tells of his rise to power, warfare, a solar eclipse, his own bloodletting, and a "dripping sacrifice",[13]
perhaps of his brother-in-law.[14]

Similar Epi-Olmec monuments featuring finely dressed figures with towering, flowing headdresses include the Alvarado Stela and El Mesón Stela 1. Unlike the La Mojarra Stela 1, these two monuments also show a subordinate, and likely intimidated, smaller figure. Some badly eroded
Isthmian scriptglyphs
may appear on the Alvarado Stela. El Mesón Stela 1 has no text.[15]

This "exalted ruler" monumental art later became common in the Maya lands to the east during the
Classic era.

By 250 CE, Cerro de las Mesas,
Remojadas, and other sites further north along the Veracruz coast had eclipsed Tres Zapotes. Although Tres Zapotes would continue into the
Classic era, its heyday had passed and Epi-Olmec had given way to the
Classic Veracruz culture.

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^This is only partially attributable to the coarser local Cerro el Vigía basalt. Diehl, p. 183. Williams and Heizer state that the Cerro el Vigía basalt is "exceptionally coarse-grained", p. 4.